Light & Fluffy Pancakes Recipe (Buttermilk Pancakes)

The Journey to a Perfect Pancake Recipe

I had to go through a couple of recipe trials to arrive at this perfect buttermilk pancakes recipe. Although making pancakes from scratch is pretty easy with a recipe, it is a little more challenging when you are trying to be innovative.

The first couple of versions of this homemade pancake recipe were sweet, buttery and delicious, but they had a problem I could not overcome: They were unflippable. They had extra butter and maple syrup which made them extremely delicate and nearly impossible to flip without causing them to fall apart.

Additionally, while my daughter loved them at first, she ultimately told me they were a little too sweet.

So I went back to the mixing bowl and reevaluated my ingredient ratios.

My revised version of this healthy pancakes recipe was much more successful when I reduced the amounts of butter and maple syrup. But then I faced another problem: The batter was a little too thick and my pancakes were struggling to cook all the way through due to how tall they were.

So in my final round of recipe experimentation with these fluffy pancakes, I added more milk. And voila! The resulting pancakes were perfectly light and fluffy but still had enough structure to be flipped, AND they were no longer too thick to cook properly.

Hence, I am now able to present to you the perfect pancakes recipe, naturally sweetened with maple syrup and eagerly approved by kids.

When to Make this Perfect Pancake Recipe

If your kid is a kid, there’s about a 99% chance he or she begs for pancakes for 99% of breakfasts at your house – at least during one childhood phase if not more. So chances are pretty good that you can safely make these pancakes anytime.

However, there are also certain times when these pancakes are an especially great idea to make.

Firstly, I love to cook up multiple batches of them on weekends to have for the week. Spend a portion of your Saturday morning at the stove and your kids’ breakfast needs will be taken care of for at least a few days to a week (depending on how many hungry little mouths you have consuming them and how many batches you make).

Or, just make them on Saturday for … Saturday. There’s something special about a family eating a big breakfast together on a Saturday morning. Whip up some pancakes, pull out some fresh or thawed-frozen berries, some maple syrup and honey, some homemade whipped cream and some homemade chocolate chips to fancy-up breakfast.

And speaking of fancying it up, I don’t know about you, but my kids love “special” pancakes for their birthday breakfasts, Christmas breakfast or other special holidays and events. Try making some shapes (or use cookie cutters to make precisely shaped pancakes) and put some special toppings on these easy homemade pancakes for a treat breakfast your kids will look forward to each holiday.

And for some less conventional but just as applicable times to make these pancakes, try presenting them to your kids as an afternoon snack. My kids go wild for afternoon pancakes.

Better yet, you could even sell these buttermilk pancakes to your kids as dessert if you put chocolate whipped cream on top.

I mean, really, we are talking about kids and pancakes. These are going to be a hit whenever you make them, even if it’s not for breakfast.

Ingredients

• Milk: Milk is the main liquid in this buttermilk pancake recipe. I prefer to use organic whole milk. And trust me, there is a world of difference between organic and non-organic milk, both in taste and health.

• Lemon Juice: While lemon juice might seem like a minor or even strange ingredient in this recipe, it makes a huge difference in the texture and flavor of the pancakes. The lemon juice simply serves as a method of creating buttermilk when mixed with the milk. And buttermilk pancakes are light, fluffy and have a beautiful flavor.

• Egg: An egg adds a bit of protein for nutrition and it holds everything together. Any eggs will work, but I prefer to use farm-fresh eggs when available. Otherwise, I use organic and/or cage-free eggs.

• Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is important in this homemade pancakes recipe because it is a healthier, wholefood substitute for white, processed sugar. Pancakes don’t need a lot of sweetness, but they would be pretty bland without any sweetener. By using maple syrup, you can feed your kids without even the trace amounts of refined sugar you find in other pancake recipes.

• Butter: Butter is a must in pancakes recipes to promote rising and the right texture. It can be very difficult to achieve a good pancake without butter, so I don’t recommend substituting something else for butter in this recipe.

• Flour: I use organic, unbleached flour, but any all-purpose flour will work.

• Baking Powder: Baking powder – preferably aluminum-free – allows the pancakes to rise just the right amount.

• Salt: Just a smidge of salt helps to enhance flavor. It might seem insignificant, but you will end up with slightly bland pancakes without it.

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat your flat frying pan a few minutes before you put your first pancake on so that it will cook correctly. It is important that your pan is heated to the desired temperature before you begin cooking the pancakes.

Step 2

Make the buttermilk by combining the milk and lemon juice and allowing it to sit for a few minutes. This step is super simple but it makes a huge difference in the texture and flavor of the pancakes.

Step 3

Mix in the rest of the ingredients. I generally try to add the rest of the liquid ingredients before dumping in dry ingredients, but it does not really matter what order you put the ingredients in. Just wait to mix until everything is added to prevent overmixing.

Step 4

Mix everything together gently just until everything is incorporated.

Step 5

Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour your desired amount of batter onto the pan, being careful not to try to squeeze too many pancakes on the pan at a time.

Step 6

Cook each pancake for 1-2 minutes before flipping. The edges will begin to dry and the tops will bubble up when they are ready to flip. If your bottoms are getting too dark before they are ready to flip, turn your heat down just a touch.

Step 7

Once flipped, cook each pancake for an additional minute. Remove from heat when they are golden brown on each side.

Step 8

Serve pancakes with desired toppings and store cooled leftovers in airtight container.

Substitutions & Tips

• As I already mentioned, I do not recommend trying to substitute the butter in this recipe. However, if you want to attempt making these pancakes dairy free, you could try using Earth Balance dairy free butter.

• If you do want to try making these dairy free, you will, of course, also need to substitute the milk with a dairy free alternative, such as almond, soy or oat. If you do make these dairy free, please let me know how they turn out in the comments.

• Keep a close eye on your stove temperature as you are cooking up the pancakes. Even the slightest change in temperature can drastically effect how quickly these cook and/or burn. Just keep checking the bottoms of the pancakes to make sure your temperature is not changing.

• You could make your pancake plans even easier for weekends by mixing up batches of dry ingredients to keep on hand as a homemade pancake mix recipe. This way, you would only need to add wet ingredients when you are ready to make pancakes.

• I recommend storing these delightful fluffy pancakes with layers of parchment paper separating them in an airtight container to prevent them sticking together.